MARGAO
Even as all eyes are focused on the general body meeting of the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education scheduled on February 24, to discuss the government circular seeking transfer of the Board’s corpus fund amounting to Rs 19 crore to the State treasurer, the Goa Forward Party has slammed the government’s move, terming it as illegal.
While the Board Executive Council held on February 8 had resolved that the Board cannot remit the corpus fund of Rs 19 crore and conveyed the decision to the Finance Department, the Board had again received a letter, directing the Board to comply with the earlier letter issued by the Finance Department.
Goa Forward spokesperson Prashant Naik has said the Goa Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Act does not provide for remittance of funds to the State treasury. “How can the government coerce the Goa Board to remit the money to the State treasury when the Act only provides for keeping the Board’s funds in any Scheduled Bank as defined in the Reserve Bank of India Act," Prashant questioned.
He said the government has set its eyes on the Board’s funds when the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Ministers have been going to the town tom-tomming that the State government is in receipt of Central funds and grants in recent days.
“When the Executive Council of the Board had said a firm no to the remittance of the Rs 19 crore, the government should have put a stop to the claim. What was the occasion for the government to now direct the Board to call a general body to decide on the same question," he wondered, adding that the government has no right to lay its claim on the funds of an autonomous body such as the Goa Education Board of Education.
Saying that the Executive Council of the Goa Board had taken the right decision in refusing to part with the Rs 19 crore funds, Prashant has made a fervent plea to the members of the general body to ensure that the Board’s funds are not remitted to the state treasury.
He raised apprehensions that the government may target some other autonomous institutions if it succeeds in forcing the Goa Education Board to part with the funds. “Instead of coercing autonomous Boards and institutions, the government should do well to use the funds judiciously and avoid wasteful expenditure," he added.
